Thursday, August 6, 2009

The Day John Wayne Met Paul McCartney

No doubt there have been stranger meetings than this, but the incongruency of the Duke handing out a Grammy to Beatle Paul (for the music for Let it Be) is still something strange to behold. Even stranger, perhaps, is (as Greig Dymond wisely pointed out) Paul taking the stage with wife, Linda, when she had nothing to do with the music. (Greig rightly suggests that Yoko would have made better sense.) But then, in 1971, John and Yoko weren't on - shall we say gently - friendly terms. If Paul's terse thank you speech seems too abrasive only consider that the movie he just won for captured the break-up of The Beatles. And the music was badly mangled (without Paul's permission or involvement) by Phil Spector.